Hendrick will be 'tought to beat' in last two races

SPEEDSKATINGHedrick: Good times aheadTexan will be 'tough to beat' in last two races

Published 6:30 am, Sunday, February 19, 2006

TURIN, ITALY - The form chart held, firm as could be. Chad Hedrick skated headfirst into reality Saturday, and reality bit. At 1,000 meters, Chad Hedrick's strengths are muted, his weaknesses are enhanced and his inexperience is exposed.

This was never Hedrick's race to win. He knew it, and his father, Paul, who got him started as an in-line skater at the family roller rink in Spring years ago, also knew it.

"It's not our race," the senior Hedrick said beforehand. "No reason to be nervous."

For all the talk about his son winning five gold medals in these Olympics, the chances of it happening were somewhere between improbable and utterly impossible, which Chad readily owned up to.

"You've never heard a quote from me that said I'd do it," he said. "I've skated seven 1,000 meters in my life, and this was the first one in international competition. I think (sixth) is pretty dang good. I've got two more chances to put up good times."

Unseeded, Hedrick went off in the fourth group. Almost never do skaters going out that early win medals.

"No, I didn't think my time would hold up," he said. "I messed up a little coming out of the first turn. I didn't think it was a perfect race. I feel I can do a lot better, but it's only a good sign of what's to come in the 1,500. I'm the world record-holder in that race and the 10,000, so all the pressure will be on me, which is the way I like it."

He liked how he felt, the result notwithstanding.

"I'm here to win — it's all or nothing," Hedrick said. "When (gold-medalist) Shani (Davis) beat me, I didn't care if I got a bronze or not. This is the Olympics. I'm not racing for second place.

"But that I picked up my speed is good enough early in the race, and if I can maintain my speed I'm going to be hard to beat in the 1,500."